Earn Double Starpoints For Dining

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Many people don’t realize that with several hotel loyalty programs, you can earn bonus points for dining at hotel restaurants even when you’re not staying at a hotel. Generally people don’t associate hotels with destination restaurants (in other words, I doubt anyone is craving a Sheraton lobby bar burger), but there are plenty of destination restaurants which are now located inside hotels. It’s certainly a trend we’re seeing more of lately.

If you happen to want to eat at a hotel restaurant, Starwood is out with a new promotion offering bonus points for doing just that.

The promotion is called SPG Twice As Nice, and it offers up to double Starpoints for dining at one of their participating hotel restaurants through June 15, 2016. The promotion is valid at 1,650+ participating restaurants and bars around the world, and you need to spend at least $10 per transaction to be eligible.

The catch is that you only earn double Starpoints on dining when you’re not booked to stay at the hotel at the same time. It’s not often hotels penalize you for staying at their hotels, but this promotion is one of those instances.

Through this promotion you’ll earn two bonus Starpoints per dollar spent at participating restaurants, on top of the points you usually earn. Be sure you check out the list of participating restaurants, because not all Starwood dining outlets qualify. For example, not a single restaurant in Los Angeles is participating, and only one restaurant in New York is participating.

The earnings rate for dining at Starwood properties is the same as it would be if you were staying at a hotel. So for dining you ordinarily earn:

2 Starpoints per dollar spent as an SPG member

3 Starpoints per dollar spent as an SPG Gold or Platinum member

4 Starpoints per dollar spent as an SPG Platinum 75 Night member

In other words, as a Platinum member who spends 100+ nights per year with Starwood, I’d earn six Starpoints per dollar spent at a participating restaurant, assuming I’m not staying at the hotel. That’s on top of the points I earn for credit card spend — for example, on the Citi Prestige® Card, Citi ThankYou® Premier Card, or Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, I’d earn double points on dining.

When you dine at a participating Starwood restaurant, just tell your server you’d like to earn Starpoints for your meal, and you’ll be able to write your SPG number on the receipt, and should automatically be credited the points (though I’d recommend hanging onto the receipt just in case).

Bottom line

I’m writing about this promotion because I assume some people will be able to take advantage of this for purchases they’ve already made. I do wish the promotion were a bit less restrictive. You’re limited to earning bonus Starpoints for properties you’re not staying at, and on top of that only some restaurants are participating.

So I wouldn’t dine at a Starwood restaurant just because of this promotion, but if you’re going to anyway, you might as well take advantage of this offer.

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About luckyBen Schlappig (aka Lucky) is a travel consultant, blogger, and avid points collector.
He travels about 400,000 miles a year, primarily using miles and points to fund his first class experiences.
He chronicles his adventures, along with industry news, here at One Mile At A Time.

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Comments

I’ve gone to the local St. Regis a few times for breakfast and drinks. I also used to live across the street form a W and would frequent their outside patio in the summer. Also I would steal the fruity ice water in the lobby all the time.

I recently ate at The Palm in the lobby of the Westin Buckhead (ATL) and used my SPG AMEX to pay for the meal. I was not staying at the hotel. On my AMEX statement the charge was classified as a Restaurant and only accrued 1 Starpoint/$. The SPG website also advertises a 10% discount when eating in one of their restaurants as an SPG Member (SPG Cravings section of the website); however, this discount also was not extended. Inquiring with AmEx now about the incorrect classification and the lack of the posted discount.

@ DLPTATL — It can be confusing, but that is indeed correct. When you’re staying at a hotel and charge a restaurant purchase to your folio, the purchase qualifies as hotel spend. However, if you’re just dining at the hotel’s restaurant, the restaurant processes the purchase directly, so it should qualify as dining spend. Therefore you’ll want to use a card which offers bonus points on dining and not one which offers bonus points on restaurants, in such a situation. Hope that makes sense.

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